The season is over. We all know that. So a lot of our time nowadays is spent looking forward to next season: How will we fix our godawful offensive line? Who will be under center? How do we get a real pass rush? The questions seem endless.
Specifically when trying to figure out how we will improve the offensive line a lot of fans point out that we are likely to have Anthony Davis back and I cringe because while I support his decision to step away from the game due to health concerns it really troubles me that he will just step away for a year or so and then come back seemingly as he pleases. In my eyes, it makes him an unreliable teammate.
And I find it extremely ironic that I'm sort of pulling an Anthony Davis move and stepping away from writing/podcasting ... until further notice. I have come to realize I simply do not have the time that I want to have to dedicate to this craft so I can research, watch tape, etc. My time is currently needed in other areas of my life and a sacrifice needed to be made so it is goodbye for now.
HOWEVER, haven't you always dreamed of leaving a job while letting everyone know how you feel? That's what I'm about to do. Don't worry 49erswebzone.com, you have always been all class with me. That team that plays their home games at Levi's Stadium is the focus of my two cents.
Open Letter to the San Francisco 49ers
Dear Jed York,
You appeared to be everything the fan base wanted in an owner back in 2011 when Jim Harbaugh was hired as our head coach and the team immediately went back to finishing with a winning record and a playoff appearance (even a playoff win!) in almost a decade. The following season we nearly won a Super Bowl. Yet as time went by you managed to turn your biggest achievement into a PR-nightmare not just by getting rid of the head coach that brought the 49ers back to being respected/feared, but also by unequivocally failing to find the right replacement for him. Now, nearly five years after a lot of us were glad to see you take over for your inept parents, you seem to have converted the franchise back to a fast-sinking ship in a bottomless ocean. You have failed to provide the fan base with any kind of hope that times will change. In my ideal world it would be you who would be stepping away and not me but since I understand that is less likely to happen than the 49ers winning a game in Seattle any time soon: I hope you at least do something right and take the Chris Cohan route.
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Dear Trent Baalke,
It's not 2010-2011 anymore. Your draft classes are below average nowadays and to be nice to you I won't even bring up that 2012 class. Oops, I guess I did. Worst of all, during an off-season full of turmoil you massively failed to upgrade the 49ers roster through either the draft or free agency (and your FA acquisitions over the last few off-seasons isn't anything to brag about either). This fan base is currently experiencing painful game days thanks in large part to a roster assembled by you that has far more weaknesses than strenghts and you need to be in danger of losing your job if you don't turn this around as soon as this coming off-season. Oh, and technically the hiring of Jim Tomsula falls on you and that's certainly not going to look good on your resume. All that being said I'm still rooting for you because you hitting a home run this coming off-season should go a long way in helping this franchise get back to winning on a regular basis and hopefully return to the playoffs. Good luck.
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Dear Jim Tomsula,
I will always be a fan of yours. You are an extremely likable person and I bet I could talk to you about football and life for hours without getting bored. None of that makes you a good head coach though, no matter how much I was rooting for you to be one. I would not dare to put more than half of the blame for this season on you when your General Manager and your CEO are also failing miserably, but that being said you are not doing this team any favors right now. It took you nine games to finally replace Jordan Devey at RG on a full time basis and I have no idea what you are waiting for to replace Erik Pears at RT, Trent Brown simply cannot be worse (and please ask Geep Chryst not to make any comments about Pears' lack of mental mistakes, will ya?). At 3-7 with very little to play for this season you need to be providing your young players with opportunities to audition on the field, regardless of whether they will make mistakes, so that you, your staff, and Baalke can fairly evaluate this roster. Whether that results in the team losing games by 40 instead of 20 shouldn't matter because if you were a good head coach your job security wouldn't depend on whether the team remains "competitive".
Where you have let me down the most is that you - through interviews, press conferences, etc - have failed to give this fan base any indication that the current state of the franchise is just temporary and we will be back to competing in the playoffs/Super Bowl any time soon. Any time I listen to you in interviews and press conferences nowadays all you transmit is a further sense of insecurity, nothing that comes anywhere close to communicating to me (the fan) that this will be turned around soon. In times where leadership is of the essence you are coming up way short and it's difficult to say anything other than this job is way too big for you.
You are almost certainly headed towards losing your job. Nevertheless, I hope this experience doesn't keep you from being a football coach in the immediate future because you still have a lot to offer to this game. Just clearly you are not made to be a head coach right now.
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Final Thoughts
I will miss collaborating with AJ Bolino. He is just a really fun dude to work with, very knowledgeable of the game of football, and a very entertaining fan to watch a game with whether on TV or at the stadium. He is also a mad trash-talker which makes him hilarious.
I joined the 49erswebzone.com forums back in 2006. I can't remember how long ago this happened but it was probably in either 2007 or 2008 that a forum member named luv49rs, after learning I had never gone to a 49ers game, kindly offered to give me an extra ticket she had for a home game that following weekend. I was very surprised by her offer and even have some doubts about accepting such offer from someone online I had never met but luckily I accepted the offer and ended up joining her and several other forum members at the 49erswebzone tailgate, which was also my first time tailgating, and had a lot fun. Ever since every time I have gone to a 49ers game I have always made an effort to join the webzone tailgate and I have always had a good time. TV setup to watch the early games and a surplus of food and drinks plus a really cool group of 49ers fans to chat with. If you ever have the time I encourage you to stop by Lot Blue 1
By the big tree on the south side of the lot.
And you can't miss this flag once you are in the area.
People always ask me what they can bring and I always tell them to bring something to grill or drink. If you do come hopefully we will have a chance to meet, or at the very least you might get chance to meet AJ and other really cool people like luv49rs who will forever be in my Hall of Fame.
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Signing off for the foreseeable future. As always GO NINERS.